"My perplexity was boundless as the sky, and mine was a sky, alas, without any stars..." Chap. 1, p. 27.

"At the first notes of the douga my father would arise and emit a cry in which happiness and triumph were equally mingled; and brandishing in his right hand the hammer that was the symbol of his profession and in his left a ram's horn filled with magic substances, he would dance the glorious dance." Chap. 2, p. 39.

"It is easy for men who work in the fields all day long to fall into the habit of silence as they mull endlessly over one thing and another." Chap. 3, p. 53.

"Singing in chorus, they reaped, voices and gestures in harmony. They were together!—united by the same task, the same song. It was as if the same soul bound them." Chap. 4, p. 61.